2018-Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit
SIPS2018
Volume 6. New and Advanced Materials and Technologies
| Editors: | F. Kongoli, F. Marquis, P. Chen, T. Prikhna, N. Chikhradze |
| Publisher: | Flogen Star OUTREACH |
| Publication Year: | 2018 |
| Pages: | 392 pages |
| ISBN: | 978-1-987820-92-8 |
| ISSN: | 2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series) |
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Application of State-of-the-Art Calculations in the Design of Accident Tolerant Nuclear Materials
Barbara Szpunar1;1UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN, Saskatoon, Canada;
Type of Paper: Keynote
Id Paper: 300
Topic: 43
Abstract:
Numerous nuclear accidents clearly illustrate the risks associated with the present design of reactors based on pure uranium dioxide fuel, with low thermal conductivity that deteriorates with temperature increase and upon further oxidation. Additionally, zircaloy cladding reacts rapidly with water at higher temperatures (> 800°C) and highly explosive hydrogen can be released. Although many factors need to be investigated before alternative nuclear materials can be adapted to the service of the harsh environment in the nuclear reactor, the suitable fuels must have a high thermal conductivity.
We use density functional theory to calculate thermomechanical properties since it has predictive power, which is needed when there are no experimental results available. We investigate thoria [1], since it has been considered as an alternative fuel with a high melting point and higher thermal conductivity than urania. It has desirable properties, as our calculations also confirm onset of a significantly higher oxygen diffusion (due to oxygen lattice pre-melting) at higher temperatures than in urania. It also has higher retention of fission products (FP) and thermal conductivity of thoria does not deteriorate because it does not oxidize. We also investigate metallic alternative nuclear fuel, since they have high thermal conductivity that increases with increasing temperature [2].
Additionally, using finite difference method, we demonstrate that thoria and metallic fuels would not only be safer due to a higher thermal conductivity, allowing faster dissipation of heat and thus lowering the centerline fuel temperature, but they would have higher longevity due to reduced thermal stress [3].
Keywords:
Nuclear energy;References:
[1] B. Szpunar, J.A. Szpunar, Ki-Seob Sim, J. Phys. and Chem. Solids, 90, 114 (2016).[2] B. Szpunar, L. Malakkal, E. Jossou, J.A. Szpunar, Materials for Nuclear Energy, Springer, ISBN 978-3-319-51647-9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-52333-0, Part XIV (2017).
[3] B. Szpunar, L. Malakkal, S. Chung, et al., MATEC Web of Conferences, 130, 03001 (2017).